Studying Scarlett
by Burningdetective1997
Summary: John is married with a baby on the way and now doesn't have much time for Sherlock. Sherlock and John set out to find someone who could be there when John could not. Then they find Scarlett. Scarlett is interesting and surprises Sherlock. Will she be all that he expected or will she fail?
1. Chapter 1

Sherlock and John sat watching the people of London as Sherlock nitpicked at every person John picked from the crowd. "How about that one," John said pointing at a young boy. Sherlock watched carefully deducing everything he could about him. The boy was about 17, a jock if he ever saw one, juggling two girlfriends, pretentious, and struggling with a parent divorce.

"No his personal life would cause too many problems and his girlfriends may get in the way of his attention."

They continued to scan the crowd as John pointed at a woman reading underneath a tree. "How about her, she looks like a good choice."

Sherlock again picked at the woman; 20-22, two to three cats, married, husband is cheating but she doesn't know for sure, sleepless nights from waiting, and a librarian. "No not her, too much drama and she isn't observant enough. Plus her mind is already preoccupied with suspicions of her husband who is cheating on her probably with his assistant."

John shook his head in frustration, "Honestly Sherlock you can't be so picky."

Sherlock stared out and noticed a young girl sitting on a bench writing intently into a notebook while watching people as they passed. Sherlock watched slowly learning; writer, dancer, sings, cat person? No dog person, curious, observant of surroundings, extremely intelligent, internal disease, cancer maybe? Suddenly a collision between a biker and a garbage can caught her attention. Sherlock noticed a change in her expression as she stared on. Was it a hero complex? No it couldn't be. He watched what seemed to be a fight for control in her expression but was thrown off when she shook the expression from her façade.

Sherlock pointed to the girl, "Her."

"Her?" John asked in confusion. "Isn't she a little young?"

Sherlock locked his gaze on the girl, "She's clever and brilliant. She's A blogger like you John but different."

Suddenly the girl got up from the bench tucking her things away into her bag. She brushed off her lap and positioned her bag upon her shoulders as she decided which way to go.

Left was crowded with too many people and the crosswalk would take her onto a longer route home. Although the right was crowded with people, her mind had calculated it to be the quickest route. 'Bloody mind palace' she thought t herself. She wandered off trying to maneuver through the crowd when she felt a strange feeling, like she was being watched or followed. Although she felt she should have trusted her feelings, she continued on through the crowd to the path ahead.

"Come along John," Sherlock said as he swiftly moved from the bench after the girl.

"Sherlock I'm sure we could be arrested for following her around."

Even though John objected he still followed after Sherlock. For blocks they followed her, hiding behind corners, in coffee shop windows, and at tables outside restaurants. Suddenly Sherlock noticed she had been watching from the corner of her eye and was now changing her course. He watched as she closed her eyes and focused. 'Mind palace?' he thought. She turned the corner and Sherlock had lost sight.

"She knows were following her."

"Good now let's go before she calls the police."

Sherlock smirked, "She won't. She's testing us, playing a game."

"A game," John asked quizzically

"She's testing to see if we're actually following her. Clever one she is."

He ran into an alley way, following the street she had turned onto. He watched the street carefully, searching for the girl. Suddenly he spotted her not far ahead and he followed just a couple paces behind. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks.

"Might I ask why you're following me?"

Sherlock grabbed her elbow and ushered her into a cab, throwing the address at the driver and finally heading towards Sherlock's flat.

"I am-"

"Sherlock Holmes," she smiled. "You must be Doctor Watson then," she smiled. "Your blog is quite brilliant. Again might I ask why you have now kidnapped me?"

Sherlock kept his face straight, "Not exactly kidnapping if you came willingly."

She smiled deviously, "Touché Mr. Holmes."

Watson shook his head and watched out the window as they rode in silence. Finally, the cab stopped and the three entered the flat. Mrs. Hudson came out of her kitchen with a smile that her boys had returned. "Oh Sherlock how lovely you've returned home." She kissed John's cheek, "And John always a pleasure to see you." Mrs. Hudson stopped on the girl Sherlock had brought inside. "Who might you be, Mrs. Hudson asked. She smiled," Scarlett Ashby, pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Scarlett, what brings you by?"

Scarlett removed her coat and trotted up the stairs after Sherlock, "Mr. Holmes kidnapped me," she smiled.

Sherlock opened the door and immediately perched himself into his chair and watched as John pulled up a chair for Scarlett.

"Tea," John asked with a polite smile.

"Oh yes please," Scarlett smiled

"I have brought you here to offer a proposition," Sherlock perched his hands under his chin.

"Well then I suppose you should explain then."

"First I wish to test your intelligence and observation skills"

John set down the tray next to his chair and handed Scarlett a cup offering sugar and cream. She smiled and watched John as he walked to set himself down across from Sherlock.

She smiled looking down at her tea, "Afghanistan or Iraq?"

Sherlock's eyebrows perked up. John laughed, "Afghanistan. I would ask how you knew that but I have a slight idea." He threw a playful look at Sherlock.

"If you're implying that Mr. Holmes told me you would be very wrong indeed." She giggled," How you walk and carry yourself says military but you've been out for quite some time. You're married now and have a baby on the way and judging by the bags under your eyes you haven't gotten much sleep which either implies nightmares or staying up with your bride. But the marriage started out rocky didn't it. When I said married something changed in your eyes and Mr. Holmes had a pained look. You would think she shot him or something." She laughed to herself as she noticed their silence. "Judging by the awkward silence I say she did. Obviously in the chest but not enough to kill you, to keep you silent then, yes?"

Sherlock smiled," Observant are we."

"Very actually," she began," how people carry themselves gives me a slight look. The way they react gives me more of an insight than originally intended." She tucked her legs underneath herself and placed the cup along the armrest. "I have heard you are an observant man as well Mr. Holmes. Please then, tell me about myself."

He looked closely," You are 17 with divorced parents. You hate your mother, love your father, but your family is quite the rocky one isn't it?" Scarlett's nod prods him further, "You love to read but never share what you read, you can sing but you're terrified, and you write but don't deem your writing worthy of human eyes so you keep it all to yourself. People make you angry because why can't they just think? Yet at the same time you love to observe them and learn all that you can. You have a boyfriend and this one is quite the step up from the last one then yes?" Her slight smile confirms his suspicions. "You research everything you can; you have a fascination with violence and have an attraction to knowledge. You fight between good and evil in your head and you my dear are like Moriarty and I put into one. Also you suffer from an internal disease, one you can live with but one that will kill you over time, cancer then?"

Scarlett smiled a pained smile, "Spot on."

"As I suspected."

"Of course," Scarlett said.

"Let's see what you can deduce of me." Sherlock sat back in his chair, his fingers in a steeple below his chin.

"You are very very intelligent, smart yet you still make mistakes but not very often, in fact they are a rare occurrence aren't they? Observant beyond the normal human standard and you are learning more as we speak. You have a brother, younger? No, older for sure. He constantly reminds you to be unattached. Traumatic incident as a child used to his advantage. A dog maybe? But even though you have been unattached for as long as you have Mr. Watson is changing that, isn't he? You now start feeling but it's strange so you're pushing it aside. But Watson here changes all of that. If I didn't know any better I would say you two are in love." Scarlett began to giggle as she watched both men.

"I am not gay," John exclaimed.

"You have to say that a lot though don't you?"

Sherlock smiled," She's perfect."

"Sherlock are you sure about this? She's quite young."

"Might I ask what this proposition of yours is now?"

Sherlock set his hands on the armrest of his chair and quickly pulled himself up, "I need a companion for when John is unavailable. I need someone brave, smart, observant, yet someone I could teach." He stood facing the wall and looked behind him at Scarlett. "You of course have surpassed my initial expectations, yet I do the same thing with people so I suppose it wasn't much of a surprise"

"What makes you think I'll say yes?"

Sherlock smirked, "You didn't hesitate when I pulled you into a cab and freely displayed your knowledge and deductive talents."

"I'd do that with anyone," she said defensively.

"Not without looking like a freak," he started. "Yet you knew I was the same as you or at least similar and you knew John wouldn't dare say a word against you."

"Alright Mr. Holmes," he cut her off.

"Please call me Sherlock."

"Alright Sherlock I accept your proposition."

A sly smile spread across both of his face, "Perfect."

"You said you had cancer," John asked with concern spread across his face. "Wouldn't you want to prolong your life instead of putting it in danger?"

Scarlett looked down at her hands as a sad smile took hold. She looked up at John, "I'm already dying John. But dying doing something brilliant, something meaningful, sounds so much better than dying from a disease."

John smiled and slowly nodded his head, "Bravery is admirable gift Miss Scarlett, keep that."

"How is your availability," Sherlock turned to face Scarlett. "Parents, job, school, anything that could interfere?"

"I live alone actually and my family is well off so my father provides financially and school never taught me anything that I didn't already know, so I suppose you could say I'm open," She smiled. "Although I must say I do live quite far from here so that may pose a problem."

"Nonsense," Sherlock interrupted, "You can stay in John's old room."

"Are you sure," Scarlett asked hesitantly.

"Absolutely, you would be available at all times and Mrs. Hudson would love to have you around."

"Well then," Scarlett smiled, "I should move as soon as possible."

"Indeed," Sherlock responded.


	2. Chapter 2

Scarlett awoke rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked around surveying the unfamiliar room until she remembered that she now lived with Sherlock. Even after a month she would still occasionally forget where she was or how she got there. She pulled the blankets aside and walked herself down the stairs, she needed coffee and food and she hoped to God that this super genius actually ate. She sauntered into the bottom portion of the flat and surveyed the room, bullet holes riddled the wall above the couch, the entire room covered in documents and books, and upon further inspection she noticed the kitchen was also a mess. Jars with strange body parts such as eyes and portions of brains were all throughout the kitchen. Scarlett laughed, "He is quite the strange man."

"They are experiments," Sherlock said with a yawn as he wandered into the kitchen draped in a sheet.

"Please tell me you're wearing clothes under that," she giggles and pointed to the sheet.

He smiled," I'll leave that to your imagination."

She rolled her eyes and began to search the cabinets for traces of food or coffee. "Honestly Sherlock do you even eat or do you photosynthesize like a plant. You don't have much and by the looks of it you aren't a coffee person which is absolutely rubbish."

"Nonsense," he yawned. "Mrs. Hudson does that sort of thing now that John isn't here but unfortunately she won't be available for another hour."

"Well then I suppose I'll have to function without coffee."

Sherlock noticed she had bags under her eyes, normally this wouldn't be something to notice given she had just woken up but these were different. "Nightmares," he asked quizzically.

She yawned and nodded yes, "Some things never leave you I suppose."

"John suffers from nightmares occasionally as well."

She sat herself in john's chair, "War does things to a man Sherlock. Be lucky it was just nightmares."

Sherlock sat himself down in his chair watching Scarlett as she pulled her legs underneath her and sat further into the chair. She noticed this and tried her best to make sure he couldn't read her any further.

"Would it be rude if I asked what these nightmares consisted of?"

Scarlett looked down at her fumbling hands, Sherlock could tell these nightmares were more severe then she was letting on. She smirked at the thought of that, once a super genius always a super genius.

"It's just my past terrorizing me Sherlock, nothing of great concern."

He laughed, "Did you know that you're a terrible liar?"

"I happen to be a great liar," she laughed. "You just happen to be smarter than I am."

She pulled her legs out from underneath her and stood up. "Sherlock I know I will be facing some terrible things with you but you should know that I may be frightened a little." She began to smile, "But fear is for 'normal' people isn't it?"

Sherlock looked up a Scarlett who watched the detective waiting for an answer. "Fear is a normal response among humans," he grew silent. "Even I suffer from it."

Scarlett watched waiting for signs of a lie or of hesitation but found none. "I can't tell you how many times I've been afraid, most of them were from fear of losing John," Sherlock was silent. "He's my only friend and I couldn't bear the thought of being alone again."

Scarlett walked towards the couch and stood on the cushions, slowly running her fingers over the bullet holes in the wall. "9 millimeter bullets," she said as she brought her self back onto the floor. "You have a gun then," she asked.

"No," Sherlock said. "John had a gun, I had immense boredom."

Scarlett slowly walked around the flat looking at everything around her. She had never really noticed much about the flat since it had been a lot of dashing about since she got here. She looked at the papers noticing that each one had some sort of random information on it or something from a case. Each book was, although in a mess, put exactly where it needed to be. She looked at the spot in which, from her deductions, John would have sat when he wrote for his blog. A lonely paper swan now sat where the computer would have rested.

"Paper swan?"

"It was for John's wedding. I had been making Sydney opera houses with napkins all day and then when John and Mary left I made a swan to try and get a clear head."

She continued on watching the window, the curtains didn't let much light in and in the rays of light that shone through dust swirled and danced about. John's chair still held and indent from every time he had sat in it, tea stains and crumbs littered the chair from when John had sat there. She looked at the mantle where an old skull sat perched. "Old friend of yours," she laughed.

Sherlock watched Scarlett as she wandered the room, drinking in every detail being careful not to miss a thing. She really was like him except she wanted to remember it in her own way and Sherlock wanted to remember things as they were. Sherlock's phone buzzed.

**MARY'S BUSY FOR THE DAY. ON MY WAY OVER NOW. PICK A CASE AND LETS GET HER READY. -JW**

Scarlett to a sharp breath in as the muzzle of the gun was pressed against her temple. "So you see my dear you can not be allowed to live so long as you accompany Mr. Holmes." Scarlett looked at a distressed John, who had been tied to a chair. She watched with close attentive eyes as John began to blink in quick rapid patterns. 'Morse code,' she thought, but for what? She paid attention to the movements putting together the message. SHERLOCK. Stop. COMING. Stop. BE OKAY. John was right, Sherlock would come soon enough, but would he be there before the trigger was pulled? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she had to trust that Sherlock would come, if John did then she had to as well. Who knew that only a month ago she never would have thought that the great Sherlock Holmes would ever want her around. She opened her eyes and deduced the situation, John and her hands were tied rather nicely but would come apart at the slightest tug at one of the strands. John had his gun but it was tucked into his pants so he couldn't grab for it in time. 'THINK HARDER', the voice roared through her head. She could easily sweep the gunman down with her chair but still the problem of the other two men. If she was patient she could get the one when the other two left. She had to stall to save themselves till Sherlock arrived.

**SCARLETT AND JOHN KIDNAPPED. TAKEN TO ABANDONED APARTMENT COMPLEX. SEND REINFORCEMENTS- SH**

**ON MY WAY- GL**

Sherlock sat forward in the cab, nerves were getting the better of him. He couldn't let anything happen to Scarlett and John. He tapped his finger nervously against his knee as the cab drove on. Suddenly it stopped out front. He threw the money at the cabbie and dashed off where his companions were being held. He burst through the door and listened closely, suddenly he heard a thud and then a gunshot and ran in the direction of the noise. Sherlock ran as hard as he could hoping they weren't hurt, he's kill anyone who dared harm them.

Scarlett stood over the man she had knocked down. Someone was bound to hear that, hopefully it was Sherlock. Two of the men had finally left the room and she took the opportunity to knock down the gunman and free herself. She pulled on the strand and, like she deduced, it came apart in her hands. She thanked God for mind palaces as she grabbed for the gun that had clattered onto the floor. She tucked it into the band of her pants and watched as the dazed and confused gunman tried to get back up. She broke the leg off of her chair and hit the gunman over the head, insuring that he wouldn't get back up any time soon. She walked to John but as she tried to untie him two men came running in. "Well well well, boss did say you would be a restless one." These men were stronger and quicker than her by far and they both already held their fingers on the triggers of their guns. "To your knees love," one of the men laughed. She slowly sank down, "Sorry John," she whispered.

"He'll be here," he said softly. Suddenly more footsteps came running but judging by the reactions of the two men they were not of someone they knew.

Sherlock dashed down the hall but stopped as he heard voices, "To your knees love."

"Scarlett," he whispered. He should have know she would have tried to get them out of their situation. Although extremely intelligent, she always underestimated the strength of the enemies they had made in the past month. He crept slowly through the halls, hoping not to draw attention to himself. He peeked around the corner at the two armed men. It would take some work but he had to think of a way to get these men away from John and Scarlett. He searched for any possible way to save them but none of the possibilities were safe. The only thing left to do was to charge them. Sherlock took a deep breath and ran down the hall toward the laughter, hopefully the gunmen wouldn't notice until it was too late. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he followed the sounds of the two men keeping Scarlett and John hostage. He swiftly knocked one of the men to his knees, taking his gun and hitting the other over the head. He looked up at Scarlett and John who had some cuts and bruises but nothing serious. Relief surged through his body as he sighed at the sight of his companions. "About bloody time," Scarlett laughed as she untied John's restraints. "How did you get out of the ropes," John asked quizzically. Scarlett smiled, "I broke the knot down and found a loose strand. A couple of tugs and it came undone. Sherlock smiled, she was brilliant but her brilliance had almost gotten her killed.

Scarlett watched as Sherlock surveyed her. "Had I not done it you would have come too late," she said as she looked at the unraveled rope in her hands. John removed the ropes from her hand and hugged her, "You did what you had to it's alright."

John had been extremely understanding since the first day and she couldn't have been thankful enough.

She broke the hug with John and slowly stood, "We should probably leave before anyone else gets here." Sherlock smiled as flashlights and shouting filled the halls.

"Scotland Yard late as usual," Sherlock smirked.

Suddenly armed men began to pour into the room, Lestrade at the head. "What the hell happened here," Lestrade asked.

"Quick thinking gone wrong," John laughed. Sherlock laughed after John as they gave all knowing glances at each other.

Lestrade looked at Scarlett, a worried look on his face. "Are you alright?"

She smiled, "Just fine detective. Just the rookie hazing."

Lestrade shook his head and laughed as he headed for the door, "Get these three out of here and then kindly escort these three idiots out of here."

Scarlett giggled as she thought of how fun this all was. It was only her first major case and she already had her life threatened. As they left the building an Irish man in his early thirties, dressed in an expensive suit, and a deviously playful look upon his face walked towards them. Sherlock and John's expressions went cold and pale as four words were uttered.

_**"Did You Miss Me?"**_


End file.
